Time of Zombies (Book 2): The Zombie Hunter's Wife

by James, Jill

  Loud whispering echoed from behind the door. She raised her hand to knock again, but the sound of a lock being turned clinked and the door opened. Bryant’s dark face filled the slim opening.

  “Don’t be mad,” he cried, tears running down his face.

  She sighed. How many times had she said that to her mom, just before she said something guaranteed to anger the woman? Placing her hand on the wood, she pushed the door open.

  Her gaze swept a room that was nowhere crowded enough for how many people should be inside. Not to mention Jed and Beth were nowhere in sight. Bryant and Aiden were the tallest people in the room.

  “I’m not mad,” she said in the calmest voice she could manage. “Where are Beth and Jed? They’re supposed to be babysit—I mean, supervising you.”

  Aiden stepped up beside his friend. “They went to kill Reverend Bennett.”

  The blood left her head and pooled in her gut. She was going to vomit. She’d thought—they’d all thought, Beth was over her obsession with the church’s teachings. Wait ...

  “What do you mean, they went to kill him? Don’t you mean, Beth went and Jed went after her?”

  Bryant shook his head. “No, they planned it. Me and Aidan heard them talking.”

  “Aidan and I,” she corrected on autopilot.

  “Whatev,” he continued. “They weren’t crazy-like or anything. Beth said it was the perfect time with most everyone gone and the rest sick and Jed agreed and pointed out that the northeast corner wasn’t covered tonight. Not enough people for patrol or something like that.”

  Her mind splintered with too many thoughts at once. The young man and woman were outside the compound in the dark on a suicide mission. Not enough people to guard the walls. The leaders not available for help. The rest sick in bed. Who did that leave?

  Shannon was their only doctor and needed here with the ill.

  Teddy was in bed and injured.

  Seth had to stay and watch over Emily.

  That left Cody, Miranda, and her.

  She took a deep breath. That left Cody, Miranda, and her. Time to shit or get off the pot, girl. This was the zombie apocalypse and everyone did their part. She’d been coasting for too long, thinking she was contributing by washing clothes and walking patrol on the walls, protected by the constant repel sound. A nice safe princess in a castle.

  Her stomach twisted into knots and bile rose in her throat. She’d sat back and let others do what she could have done, if only she’d been brave enough to do it. If she wanted safety and security, she would have to get it for herself.

  “Ryde,” Bryant said.

  “What?” Michelle asked as the boys’ conversation finally filtered through her churning thoughts.

  “Ryde. R. y. d. e,” Bryant repeated. “Commander Jack was talking to Mr. Seth. He said he sent some guys to check it out and they radioed back to Jed that the recon, recon—something or other was good to go. Then Commander Jack told Mr. Seth that if the explosion was a decoy and something happened with the sickies that we were all going to meet in Ryde.”

  “Where in the hell is Ryde? Is that the name of a town?”

  “It’s down the river,” Miranda piped up from the doorway. “Biggest thing there is a hotel. Population something like two hundred pre-Z. Right on the Sacramento River.”

  “Dudes, where’s Beth and Radio Man?” Cody added.

  “They took off to kill Bennett,” Michelle said. “We’re going after them.”

  “Yay,” Aiden, Bryant, Connor, and Dylan cheered with the five-year-old Madison twins yelling along with them.

  She put her hand up and the hubbub died down. “Ran, Cody, and I are going after them. You are all staying here. Aiden can open and shut the gate, and then he’s coming right back here. I want you to lock yourselves in. Don’t come out for anything.”

  Her boys surrounded her and hugged her. Their tears wet her shirt and her tears wet her face.

  “I’ll be back,” she intoned in her best imitation of a famous and popular movie.

  Their smiles were all the reward she needed for finally pulling up her Big Girl panties and facing the world they now lived in.

  She turned to Ran and Cody as she shut the door and slung her arm over Aiden’s shoulder. “Okay, five minutes. Get any weapons you want to take. Don’t tell anyone. We will get Jed and Beth back or those sick fucks will die. I’ve had enough of their toxic church”

  Chapter Twenty

  Rule #12 Sacrifices are made every day. Simple ones and hard ones. Never more than in the zombie apocalypse. If it’s not worth the sacrifice, it’s not worth having.

  There was normal dark and then there was a moonless night in the zombie apocalypse. The Milky Way was clearly visible in the night sky and a billion stars shone down on Earth, but their brightness did nothing for navigating the way down a lonely street.

  After seeing to the kids, she’d grabbed a knife to add to her belt, a large pistol in a holster, and her small gun to put down her boot. Ran and Cody grabbed theirs as well and met her at the gate. Aiden opened it and let them through. She took a second to hug him again. “Watch over your brothers. I will be back if I can. I’m sorry I can’t promise more than that. If we aren’t back in two hours, go to Beth’s father and tell him everything.”

  He’d hugged her tight and rushed to shut the gate and get back to the safety of the office.

  The clang of the metal gate was so much louder when you were on the outside of it. She held her breath until her chest ached. Ran and Cody came up to either side of her and she took another breath. She wasn’t alone.

  In the silence, the sound of their boots on the asphalt carried down the road. Crickets chirped and cats meowed just as they had since the beginning of time. The moans of the undead at the edge of the repel zone had become as commonplace as the other night sounds.

  Ran stopped several feet away from the line of skinbags. “I only see four, maybe five. Cody, get the one coming your way from your three. Michelle, you stand back and we’ll take care of this.”

  She locked her jaw. “I’m not going to be babied all the way there. It’s going to take all of us to get our people back. I can do this.”

  As if to prove the point, she pulled her knife out of the sheath, stepped up to the nearest zomb’, and pierced it though the temple. The undead didn’t hit the ground before she strode up to the next and dispatched it as well.

  She stepped back as Ran and Cody did their job and the moans stopped. Holding her breath, she listened to the now truly silent street. Ran touched her arm and whispered. “We have to make sure Beth and Jed aren’t here.”

  “I don’t under ... oh,” she whispered as the realization struck her that the couple might have only made it this far and she’d just made them dead dead. Bile rose in her throat as they turned the bodies over and had to lean close in the darkness to see who they were.

  Relief filled her as she turned over the last body and it wasn’t Jed or Beth. Standing, she turned to Ran. “You’ve been out here. What next?”

  The young woman leaned in close. “Once we go forward, there is no protection from the sound. No talking except as a warning of incoming zombs. Follow my lead. If I say run, run. If I say stop, stop.”

  She put her hand on Ran’s arm and whispered. “I can do that.”

  Time passed slowly as they made their way down the street. Ran and Cody would disappear from time to time and the only sound was the thud of a body hitting the ground. The first few times her heart stopped. After a while, she continued walking, believing they would be okay and back again.

  After what seemed an eternity, they reached the end of the road, and trashcan fires appeared across the way in the church’s parking lot. The moans of their caged undead echoed in the air. Michelle’s hands fisted at her sides as they peered around the corner of a house.

  Voices and laughter came and went as the men moved around the church building on patrol. She stared at their movements but no pattern displayed itself. The
guards seemed to just wander around the blacktop, stopping from time to time to tease the caged zombs or throw some wood on the fire.

  She jumped when a woman’s cry came from the building, but she couldn’t tell if it were Beth or someone else. All too easily, she could picture the wounded and battle-scarred women she’d seen at the church service. Maybe women crying out for help were a nightly event.

  “I counted eight men. Maybe nine,” Michelle whispered in Ran’s ear.

  “Ten. One on the roof,” she replied. “I don’t think we can take on that many. It isn’t like the skinbags.”

  A knot came into her throat. She didn’t think she could kill a living human being. Not unless her life was in danger. Or one of her friends. Could she do it then? She wasn’t even sure of that.

  “We can’t stay here all night,” Ran whispered. “Sooner or later one of them will see us or the skinbags will sniff us out. We can’t let them get the upper hand.”

  She bit her lip. The girl was right. They needed a plan. They needed a guinea pig to get into the church and find out if Beth and Jed were there.

  “I’ll go,” she muttered under her breath before she lost her nerve.

  “What?” Ran voiced a tad too loud.

  “Who’s there?” A man called as he ran toward them, his boot heels thumping on the ground and the sound echoing across the night.

  She pushed Ran and Cody back to the darkness on the house’s porch. “If I’m not back in thirty minutes, get back to the compound. The others should have returned by now.”

  “I’m not letting you do this,” Ran argued.

  “I’ll be fine.” She shuddered from head to toe. “I think Bennett has the hots for me.”

  “That just makes it worse,” Ran grumbled as she faded into the dark.

  She limped into the trees as Cody pulled Miranda against him. She stumbled and made as much noise as possible to let the man find her and not her friends.

  “Help,” she croaked in a weak, hoarse voice. “Help me.”

  She crashed into the man as they both reached the sidewalk. Grabbing his shirt, she fell, taking him with her.

  “Please, help me. I don’t want to be out here. I need to see Reverend Bennett.”

  The man grabbed a handful of her hair and pulled her to her feet. “We’ll just see about that. Maybe he’ll let us have some fun with you before you’re Resurrected. You can’t all be pure enough to be wives.”

  By the time he’d dragged her to the others; it felt like every hair on her head had been pulled out. Like a bullying in the schoolyard, he pushed her into a circle of men, each one grabbing and pulling at her. She cringed as buttons popped off her shirt and the fabric ripped with a loud sound. Her heart pounded and urged her to run, but she forced herself to stay.

  “Please,” she begged, holding her ripped shirt to her chest. “I need to see Billy Joe. Please. Tell him Michelle is here.”

  Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted an enormous man leave the group and head to the church door. He opened it, went inside, and slammed it shut. She could only pray he was going to get Bennett.

  The men moved closer, pushing her from man to man. She didn’t dare pull her knife; they’d stab her to death. Her heart leapt in her chest. Or undead. She could only hope Bennett was coming.

  The door reopened and Billy Joe Bennett filled the space. She shivered, not from cold, but from the lust she saw in his ice-cold eyes. He didn’t just want sex with her, he wanted her body and soul, and when that wasn’t enough, he’d kill her.

  He marched over and pushed men aside like they were paper dolls. Reaching her, he stopped as if noticing all at once that her shirt was hanging on by threads, the tank top beneath just as tattered and torn. The look he turned on his men made the one she’d received downright pleasant.

  Bennett grabbed her chin and stared into her eyes. “Who did this to you?”

  Her gaze shot right and left. No words came to her dry mouth. How could she blame one when they’d all taken part? She just shook her head and stared over his shoulder.

  Bennett turned to the big man. “Elias, sort it out. But by morning I want two dead men, one dead wife, and the children banished from the church. Bring the remaining wife to me.”

  “Yes, Reverend Bennett,” Elias replied in a deep baritone.

  She shivered. Hades at the gates of Hell couldn’t sound more terrifying. The big man was going to do exactly what Billy Joe had ordered, no questions asked. She’d studied cults in college, but she’d never been this close to the drenched evil they spewed. It was surreal to hear a man order others to death and see another man having no problem with doing the deed.

  Bennett unbuttoned his shirt, pulled it off, and draped it over her shoulders. The stench of musk and sex clung to the cloth. She wanted nothing more than to rip it off and fling it to the ground, but that wouldn’t get her inside safely.

  “Thank you,” she whispered, trying not to clench her teeth.

  “Anything for you, fair Michelle.” His hand ran over her tangled hair and down her back.

  “Let’s go inside,” he uttered as he held open the door for her. As it slammed shut and silenced the outside, the sounds from within became clear. Whimpers and cries filtered down the hall. The sound of slapping flesh echoed louder and louder as they reached the church.

  Michelle stumbled into hell. She tried to take it in all at once, but her mind refused to process what she was seeing. Medieval torches in wall holders flooded the room with flickering light. They only added to the feel of a torture chamber in a dungeon. The coppery scent of blood filled the room. The sound of leather on naked flesh filled her head.

  Please let Ran and Cody get help. I can’t do this all alone.

  She swayed and a gray mist pulsated from the edge of her vision. Bennett clasped her to his side. She tried to pull away, but the man only held on tighter, his fingers clenched on her shoulder.

  “Seems it is a night of visitors from your compound. Young Beth and Jed make an unlikely assassination team, but it appears they did come here to kill me.”

  He grabbed her by the nape of the neck and turned her to face him. A bloodstained bandage covered his shoulder, with scratches marring the pale skin on his chest.

  Her heart thumped in her head. She looked up at him. “I didn’t know they were here. I ran away from our camp to get to you. I had no idea anyone else was coming.”

  His glare softened. She could tell he wanted to believe her; it was evident in his relaxed shoulders and the small grin on his face. The grin died as Beth cried out and she flinched.

  He whipped her around, her back to his chest, with an out flung arm holding her tight. He leaned down, his hot breath bathing her ear.

  “Where’s Teddy, your protector?”

  “He’s back at the compound. I asked him to marry me, but he refused. I knew ... I mean, I hoped, that you wanted me. I thought I saw something in your eyes when I was here for church. I had a husband once. I want one again. I want a man who is willing to marry me to have me.”

  “I’ll marry you, Michelle. Play your cards right and I might even make you wife number one.”

  She took a deep breath. He’d believed her. In his lust for her, he’d believe whatever she said. All she had to do was get her friends released and take care of Bennett.

  He leaned in closer and nibbled her ear. A shudder ran down her spine. “Just as soon as Jed and Beth die and join the Resurrected.

  Chapter Twenty-one

  This morning

  Fruitful Harvest Church

  “Let me go. I don’t want to go outside,” Maya cried, pulling away from him.

  Billy Joe tightened his hand on her wrist and slapped her with the other. Her cries died as he yanked her down the aisle of the church and flung open the door. Sunlight flooded his eyes. The moans of the Resurrected sang in his ears.

  “Do you hear them, sweet Maya? They know I am anointed as their leader.” He pulled her arm and dragged her to the cages. She p
ushed back and huddled against his chest. Her whimpers and pleas tightened his erection. It ached and pulsated with his heartbeat.

  This is what it feels like to be God. To play with human lives like so many toys.

  “Come, my angel. We are going on an adventure,” he crooned to Maya.

  Her feet plodded against the pavement as he dragged her along in his wake. The undead rattled the metal bars and huddled inside their prisons.

  “Let me show you that I’m master of this kingdom. Lord of the Resurrected.” He pulled her against his raging hard-on. “Master of you.”

  Tears spilled down her face. Her dark eyes and dark hair made her a younger, weaker version of Michelle Greggs. For now he would be content with the imitation, but one day soon he’d have the real thing. Maya would be until then.

  She stumbled as he strode through an open field to a shack beside some railroad tracks. He glanced around; satisfied they were far enough from the church for her screams to go unheeded by the church followers. Not that his men cared what he did with his women, but appearances must be kept up, he confirmed to himself, sweeping his hair back from his face.

  He shoved the girl until her back slammed against the wall with a thud. His hand came to her throat and squeezed. Terror widened her eyes and her hands beat against his chest. He leaned in close and inhaled her gasping breaths.

  “Say it,” he ordered, loosening his grip enough to allow her to talk.

  “I’m Michelle. I want you Billy Joe,” she muttered between sobs.

  His erection turned to stone. He ripped her dress, baring her breasts to his sight. He reached out and grasped one, tightening until the flesh overflowed his hand and Maya screamed. He flipped her around and shoved her back up against the wall. He yanked her dress up and exposed her bare bottom. He’d taken her panties away weeks ago, so he could have her whenever he wanted.

  He controlled what she wore.

  He controlled what she said.

  He controlled whether she lived or died.